Sunday, September 19, 2010

"You Have Really Challenged the Whole Country to Sit Up and Think"

And, well, 'nuff said.

Whatta PopeTrip, gang -- hope it was as enjoyable for you lot to watch as it was for your narrator to cover.

And now, with this season's Big Story already in the books after a year of prep, time to recover and -- freed of the deadline pressure of these days -- take a better read of the texts and a less crazed watch of the Game-Day Film.

Along these lines, expect a quiet few just ahead... then again, anyone looking for anything new too quickly hasn't taken this journey in as it's deserved.

That said, we'd be hard pressed to find a better close this historic weekend than how how these pages began it -- the words "placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven" by Blessed John Henry Newman, quoted by no less than B16 in this morning's climactic beatification homily:

About Me

One of global Catholicism's most prominent chroniclers, Rocco Palmo has held court as the "Church Whisperer" since 2004, when the pages you're reading were launched with an audience of three, grown since by nothing but word of mouth, and kept alive throughout solely by means of reader support.

A former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet, he's been a church analyst for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NBC, CNN and NPR among other mainstream print and broadcast outlets worldwide.

A native of Philadelphia, Rocco Palmo attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2010, he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis.

In 2011, Palmo co-chaired the first Vatican conference on social media, convened by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. By appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap., he's likewise served on the first-ever Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese, whose Church remains his home.